Thank you stonesriver and everyone else for the kind welcome. Yes, I think I may have been a bit bitten by the "gardening" germ. Granted, I am nowhere close to where most people on this forum probably are. I am mainly a "decorator" who feels that a house without any indoor plants is sad, dry and too much of a sign of our rushed times. So I decided I HAVE TO get some reasonably elegant indoors plants established. The only thing close to caring for a plant I've done before were some geraniums. They did OK, I managed not to kill them and they bloomed quite a bit over the winter even if they did get leggy. Oh, well. Now I took them outside and I decided that they will go in the basemenent for wintering when times comes. I will no longer keep them in the house because they are not really elegant, gracious plants. I like their bright colors outside in the summer but that's that for now. So I decided it was time for something finer and elegant to go with our classic/traditional living room as well as my busy schedule. I also knew this was going to be harder than a geranium which are quite hard to kill anyway. So off I went to Pikes and I grabbed some plants I had heard were not hard to care for and would do well on our Eastern bay window. A Peace Lily, four AV-s and two yellow begonias. (I did kill a begonia last year but later, after more reading, I realized I was making mistakes with it). A real gardener I will never be - not with a full-time academic career and two small children; but By God, these few plants must stay alive, do well, and even bloom nicely - this is all I hope for. I don't plan to do any complicated wick watering (at least it sounds complicated to me) or much propagation or anything - I just want to keep my living room looking as pretty as it is now, with lots of healthy blooms, if this is not too much to ask. Since I've heard so much about how important the soil is, I think I am going to change the soil the plants came in pretty soon; at least for the AV-s, I don't know whether I should do the same thing for the begonias, but probably should. Having a month between waterings sounds like a lot to me. These are small pots (4" I believe) and I think all moisture would evaporate altogether from such a small pot well before the 1 month mark; especially if I change the soil to something more airy. I did fertilize the AV-s when I watered them the first time - with some 5-7 drops of liquid fertilizer from MIracle-Gro, as indicated on the package. I am a super novice so I just did the novice thing. I guess changing the soil will also change the present routine. Some of the flowers on my AV-s are starting to fade now- they are starting to have little burnt patches on the petals, but I assume this is the natural cycle of the flower - as I bought them with quite a few blooms from the nursery and it might just be their time to go. I am just hoping they will continue to bloom for a while. Thank you again for the kind welcome, I wil certainly be around because I have been clearly "bitten". :-)

You don't mention what style hood you're considering or whether you're venting out or recirculating via a charcoal filter. If you're cooking with gas, especially if you have any high output burners and are planning to do any woking, or high heat sauteing venting out is vastly preferable. If you don't have existing ductwork the price of the installation would probably be more than the price of the hood however so recirculating is more economical. Broan makes some excellent products. Here's a couple examples of various type hoods that might fit your budget and are available in 36" Undercabinet Model 88000 - can be ducted out or converted to recirculating Undercabinet model 89000 (must be ducted out) Probably most of Broans undercabinet hoods would fit your budget and it would just be a matter of taste. If you're looking for something a little different than these there are just about an infinite number of choices out there such as Whirlpools model GXW6536DXS MSRP: $549.00 A couple hints you may have already heard: Read the specs and installation directs or have your installer do so before the hood is purchased. All this information is right on the manufacturers web site. If you're venting out - be sure to use rigid metal vent only, plastic or metal foil dryer type duct work is not recommended and will cause your hood to be at least noisy and at worst ineffective. Have your duct run be as straight as possible but if you must have turns (elbows) try to have it be a maximum of three with at least 2 feet of straight run between elbows. As kindly as possible make sure your installer knows what he's doing. You want him to say no problem, I've installed miles of ductwork and dozens of these hoods.

Personally, I think it's a horse apiece. I've had good luck with both brands. You might also look at Onkyo. They have a good reputation for sound and build quality, though I don't know if their lowest-end AV receivers are up to the quality of their mid-to-higher-end items.

1. Check "Consumer Reports" at your local library (usually found shelved in the reference department) for information on juicers. That should give you good basic need-to-know on them for which ones do a good job as well as their cost. 2. Put an add on your local Freecycle for one - price is right. 3. I'm going to bet, like me, most of us who have had a juicer got tired of the fuss and mess. After baking dozens and dozens of muffins to use the valuable fiber that's left in the juicer, and a compost pile heaping with the stuff, it quickly gets put into storage, THEN in your next garage sale. It's more beneficial to consume the whole fruit/vegetable than juice only. Whole foods are nature's original "FAST food". Wash, chop, consume. I think fruit-rich smoothies have taken over where juicing used to be popular. 4. Make a city-wide sweep of thrift shops and tag/yard/garage sales for one. My sister just bought a Champion Juicer (the king of all juicers) - in the box - for $10. POTASSIUM BROTH (lunch) Handful parsley Handful spinach 4-5 carrots 2 stalks celery GARDEN SALAD SPECIAL (Lunch) 3 broccoli flowerets 1 garlic clove 4-5 carrots or 2 tomatoes 2 stalks celery 1/2 green pepper PINK MORNING TONIC (breakfast) 1 pink grapefruit, peeled 1 Red Delicious apple, seeded (I prefer 1 Jonathan apples) EVENING REGULATOR (bedtime snack) 2 apples, seeded 1 pear ENERGY SHAKE (breakfast) Handful parsley 4-6 carrots GINGER HOPPER (mid-morning) 1/4-inch fresh ginger root 4-5 carrots 1/2 apple, seeded WALDORF SALAD (mid-Morning) 1 green apple, seeded 1 stalk celery CLEANSING COCKTAIL (mid-afternoon) 1/4-inch ginger root 1 beet 1/2 apple, seeded 4 carrots ZIPPY SPRING TONIC (mid-afternoon) Handful dandelion greens 3 pineapple rings 3 radishes Enjoy! -Grainlady